Advocacy

Secretary Foxx Joins 2016 PCA D.C. Fly-In

Secretary Anthony Foxx of the U.S. Department of Transportation will join the 2016 PCA D.C. Fly-In this week.

This marks the first time that the Secretary has addressed the PCA members, as PCA hosts its first Fly-In May-24-25. Registration for this historic event is still available by clicking here.

With the addition of Secretary Foxx, the Fly-In offers a robust program featuring prominent DC leadership including Janet McCabe, U.S. Department of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL).

Meetings of PCA's Environment and Energy, Manufacturing Technical, and Occupational Health and Safety Committees took place in conjunction with the conference. Highlights of the PCA joint meeting included four technology transfer presentations by associate members and a review of the recent PCA Finish Mill Grinding Survey.

Jeff Austin III, of the Texas Transportation Commission; Jim Toscas, PCA president and CEO; Ed Sullivan, PCA senior vice president and chief economist; Roger Smith, president and CEO of Salt River Materials Group; Allen Hamblen, president and CEO of CalPortland; and Franz Ulm, executive director of MIT's Concrete Sustainability Hub were among industry leaders who spoke at the conference.

Conference training highlights included the first ever Fatality and Serious Injury Prevention Symposium, co-sponsored by PCA and IEEE. This was followed by six presentations focusing on specific safety aspects in the cement plant environment. The conference also included two days each of process training basics, management development training, primary crusher training, and both pyroprocessing simulator and grinding mill simulator training.

Market Intelligence

PCA Releases Asphalt Technology Assessments Report

In a new flash report entitled Asphalt Technology Assessments, PCA assessed the costs associated with two nontraditional asphalt technologies: warm-mix asphalt (WMA) and rubberized asphalt. Despite large declines in the price of oil, the analysis shows that concrete remains the least expensive option on both initial and life cycle costs for a typical two-lane urban road.

Market Development

Allied Industry Groups Collaborate for Successful NACE Meeting

Displaying the many faces of cement-based pavement products was the theme of our exhibit at the recent National Association of County Engineers (NACE) Annual Meeting/Management & Technical Conference in Tacoma, Washington. More than 350 delegates attended the event. A 10-by-20 foot exhibit booth was jointly sponsored by PCA, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) and American Concrete Paving Association (ACPA). The booth featured the PCA integrated pavement solutions display and the "competition paves" messaging. An hourly raffle to win a copy of PCA’s new Design and Control of Concrete Mixtures ​attracted visitors. At the awards program, PCA and ACPA were recognized for their longstanding corporate membership to the NACE, 10 and 20 years, respectively.

Research/Technology

Mark Your Calendar for Influential ASTM International Meetings

ASTM International Committees will meet during the week of June 26, 2016, at the Marriott Hotel in Chicago, Illinois.

ASTM International is an organization of more than 30,000 members around the world that volunteer through a consensus process to define more than 12,000 standards used in industries as diverse as amusement parks and aircraft. Two of ASTM's oldest committees (over 100 years old) are ASTM Committee C01 on Cement and Committee C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates. These committees are organized into subcommittees that focus on related standards, which include specifications, test methods, guides, practices, and terminology documents.

You do not need to be a member of ASTM to attend these meetings, and there is no registration fee. However, becoming a member allows you to have input into the development of the standards important to the cement and concrete industries.

Communications

PCA Cement Talk Blog Debuts

PCA debuted its new blog site last week, http://www.cementtalk.org/. Among some of the new features is a weekly blog recap email sent out to blog subscribers, a bold look, and easily accessible links to contribute, contact, and share comments to PCA social media. Sign up today to subscribe to the blog emails. We look forward to your comments.

CTLGroup

Tonyan Presents at Project Qatar

CTLGroup and CTLGroup-Qatar attended and exhibited at Project Qatar, May 9-12. Over 2,000 companies from 40 different countries attended the conference dedicated to the engineering and construction services industry. Tim Tonyan, CTLGroup's chief operating officer, presented the workshops "Use of ASTM Standards in Concrete Quality Control" and "Concrete Durability – Deterioration Mechanisms" at the event.

“Project Qatar is an invaluable conference especially with our local CTLGroup-Qatar laboratory presence in Doha,” Tonyan said. “I especially enjoyed the opportunity to present the global importance of building standards in consultation with ASTM International. The workshops served as a vital platform to share this industry knowledge.”

Visit the Project Qatar website to learn more about this annual event.

The Executive Report is distributed free of charge to members of PCA and to individuals interested in PCA activities or the cement, concrete, and construction industries. Email info@cement.org to subscribe.